Comedy show at Valley Forge Casino to benefit family of Officer Brad Fox

Mike Bowman, CEO/President of Valley Forge Casino Resorts poses near a Mercedes-Benz C300W4 with Valley GirlKaitlyn Riess inside the Casino In Upper Merion Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. VF Casino is hosting at Comedy Show to benefit the Fox Family. Along with the benefit, the Casino will be hosting a kick boxing event and raffling off the car. Photo by Gene Walsh / Times Herald Staff

UPPER MERION — If you’re looking for a few hearty laughs to wind up this month of too much turkey and too many midnight madness deals, Valley Forge Casino Resort has some funny business in store for you.

On Friday night the more-than-just-gaming palace on First Avenue is putting the spotlight on comedy for a cause.

Comedians Joe DeRosa and Maddog Mattern take the stage to raise money for the children of slain Plymouth Township Police Officer Bradley Fox.

“We gave $10,000 donation to the family and we offered to do an annual event here at the property to help with the children, any type of support or funding for college education,” he said, sitting in the wildly popular country-rock club Deuces Wild. “It was recommended to us since there were other events taking place at the time to wait until things kind of settled down and we could regroup with the FOP to set up an annual event, which may spin to the charity.

“The promoters said that part of the proceeds of the comedy night were going to the family, and we said, ‘great, we just gave them a check for $10,000, so let’s do this.’ Being so active in the community,” he added, “is really important to us right now. That’s what it’s all about.”

The casino will also be giving away a new Mercedes-Benz to a lucky Valley Club Player Card holder on Friday evening.

According to his official bio, courtesy of My Power Press Kit, Maddog Mattern is a “free flowing, high energy, pop culture-referencing half hipster, half meat head from Sin City. With warmth in his heart and a party in his voice, Mad Dog creates a heavily improvised crowd interactive show. Each night changes with the faces, the moods and the personalities of the crowd, making each show a one of a kind.”

He’s been a regular on several radio shows, including “The Scott Ferrall Show” and “The Miserable Men Show” on Howard 101 on Sirius/Xm, and has been seen on Howard Stern on Demand TV. He currently has a regular segment called “Dog in the Park” on the podcast “The Comedy Point with Soul Joel.”

Joe DeRosa was featured in a segment of a Comedy Central Presents special and released a stand-up comedy album, “The Depression Auction” in 2010.

The comedy night is another aspect of the casino-resort’s eagerness to be more than a gaming destination, Bowman said.

“When you look at our competitors and what they have, most of them are casino-centric, but we always had a strategy in place to offer more non-gaming than any other casino in the Pennsylvania market, especially in Southeastern Pennsylvania. We have seven restaurants and brought in Tony Clark, who is very well known, as our executive chef recently. We have comedy and MMA boxing this Friday, which is hot right now. We have concerts. So we’ve done an array of non-gaming things to attract people to the resort with all of these events going on that are attracting a local clientele. This weekend the hotel’s 488 rooms are sold. We’re hearing great things about what we’re doing, and it’s has a nice balance for the community and the business community right now in all ways.”